I Cannot Self-Terminate: Difference between revisions

* Subverted for the ending in ''[[End of Days]]'', wherein [[Arnold Schwarzenegger|Arnold's character]] is possessed by [[Eldritch Abomination|Satan himself]], but before he's forced to rape the girl he tried to protect during the movie, regains control long enough to [[Heroic Sacrifice|jump straight on a sword held by a statue]], killing himself and banishing Satan just as the year 2000 rolls along.

* In ''[[Serenity]]'', [[The Woobie|River]] is in the middle of an emotional breakdown while handcuffed to the floor, and begs for Simon to kill her, interspersed with images of her ''with a gun to her head''. However, he immediately rejects that.

* Inadvertently applied to David from ''[[An American Werewolf in London]]'', because the restless spirits of his victims waste so much time ''dreaming up ways for him to kill himself'' that he runs out of time to act on their advice and succumbs to another transformation.

* ''[[The Great Waldo Pepper]]'' has the title character's friend trapped in a burning airplane after a crash. When Pepper is unable to free him, he begs, "Don't let me burn!" Pepper then euthanizes him with a blow to the head.

* Horace McCoy's ''They Shoot Horses, Don't They?'' ends with Gloria asking Robert to shoot her because she can't bring herself to commit suicide. He complies, and later when the cops ask him why he did it as they're taking him away, he [[Title Drop|offers the title phrase]] in reply.

* An interesting example occurs in the young adult novel ''The Crossroads'' where Billy O' Claire is possessed by an evil spirit who is trying to force him to murder his own son. This leads to a half-tragic, half-comical three-way exchange between Billy, ''the spirit inside of him,'' and the cop trying to stop them both.

'''Billy:''' ''Shoot me!'' Shut up, shut up, shut up! }}

* [[Deltora Quest|Doran the Dragonlover]] can't die since he's {{spoiler|the Guardian of a Sister, the very thing he goes out to destroy many years ago}}, therefore asked to be killed to end his suffering. Fortunately, [[Let Them Die Happy|he dies with great relief]] once he saw that {{spoiler|the Diamond Dragon's egg hatch, therefore will continue to live in its mother's place}}.

* In Andy Hoare's [[White Scars]] novel ''Hunt for Voldorius'', the Bloodtide tells the Raven Guard and White Scar scouts that it can not kill itself, but they can [[Kill It with Fire]].

* In [[Robert E. Howard]]'s [[Conan the Barbarian]] story "The Devil In Iron" Octavia beg to escape an unspecified [[Fate Worse Than Death]].

* The fate of Mishra, brother of the planeswalker [[Magic: The Gathering|Urza]], for irritating Yawgmoth. Mishra, along with dozens of other beings who have earned that ire, lie strapped to tables in one layer of Phyrexia with dozens of whirring circular blades suspended above them. Every few seconds, the blades descend and slice up the skin of the victims, but never kill them. When Urza is brought to his brother, Mishra pleads for him to end his life. Instead, [[Moral Event Horizon|Urza turns his back on him and walks away]], succeeding in his test of devotion to Yawgmoth.

* Played for extreme horror in the novella ''With Folded Hands...'' when the reader realizes that not only have human lives been reduced to complete irrelevance by their robotic "servants", but there's no way to end the despair because ''they are always right there with you.'' And the robot guardians have become very good at preventing humans from taking their own lives....

* In [[Robert E. Howard]]'s [[Conan the Barbarian]] story "The People of the Black Circle", the king demands this of his sister before his soul is trapped.

* In ''[[Gone]]'', {{spoiler|Hunter, who is being slowly eaten by parasitic wasps, begs Sam to kill him.}}

* {{spoiler|Denna}} in [[The Sword of Truth|Wizard's First Rule]] states that {{spoiler|she tortured the protagonist worse than she did anyone else, suspecting he's the one a prophecy says will kill her, and thus trying to push him to do so. In the end, he kills her ''out of love''.}}

** Only to [[Subverted Trope|subvert]] this trope when he explains that he just wanted to try whether he really was indestructable and goes [[Ax Crazy]] for good after the confirmation.

* The insurgent prisoner from ''[[Over There]]'':

* In ''[[Babylon 5]]'', Londo, under the long-term control of an alien mind-controlling parasite, gets it drunk and asks his old foe to kill him, preventing the alien from forcing him to thwart the heroes' daring escape. "I am as tired of my life as you are."

* In ''[[Kamen Rider Kuuga]]'', Yuusuke requests that if he cannot control the power of Ultimate Kuuga and becomes the '[[Ultimate Evil|Ultimate Darkness]]', his friend Ichijo to shoot him through the [[Transformation Trinket|Arcle]] and kill him. Thankfully he doesn't become evil, just [[Badass]].

== Music ==

* [[Franz Ferdinand]]'s "Take Me Out" at least ''sounds'' like it's describing such a situation.

''I want you... to take me out!'' }}

* Ice Age's "Dead But Wide Awake" very clearly describes this

* The Dalek in the [[Big Finish Doctor Who]] audio ''Jubilee'' had had its self-destruct system disabled and, more than just ordering it to self-destruct, the Dalek demanded that Evelyn actually shoot it with its own gun.

** The Eighth Doctor himself in the audio play ''Zagreus'', echoing Charley's request in the previous story.

"Kill me." }}

*** {{spoiler|She does.}}

*** Perhaps for sword duels in some countries. Pistol duels were rather more dangerous, though.

* Serial killer James French was sentenced to life in prison. He wanted to die, but was afraid to commit suicide - so he murdered his cellmate, and subsequently, was executed. He also had some hilarious [[Famous Last Words]]:

* Filling out a living will may invoke this trope, depending on what criteria are incorporated into it.

* The purpose of the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland.